07.25 @ 10:07am
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07.21 @ 12:07pm
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07.15 @ 11:19pm
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Harvey wasn't sure why, but he'd been noticing a subtle change in his sister and he couldn't put his finger on the source. Maybe she was just being a typical teenager for once, having mood swings and the like, but he couldn't tell why and it was bugging him. He knew she'd been friends with some rather unsavory characters, who were thankfully no longer around school, but surely that couldn't be the reason. She'd retreated a bit, back to the way she'd been last year. Elsie had been much more outgoing and open this year, which was good, but lately she'd gone back to that quiet, bookworm he was frustratingly familiar with.

Deciding not to dwell on it, he instead sat, upside down on the couch of Hufflepuff common room, his transfiguration text book hovering over his head while he read for his homework assignment. Most would find this unusual, except for the fact that the rest of his house was quite used to this from him. Harvey, wchile a good students had never really been the kind to be able to sit still or in some semblance of a normal position. Somehow he managed for class, though usually, if he could, had his feet on the chair in front of him or crossed beneath him, far from what most people would consider comfortable, but he was perfectly at ease in the seemingly strange positions.

He was starting to get that familiar itch, the one he always got about this time of year, March was not one of his favorite months, it wasn't exactly pleasant and he was ready to be back outside for eighty percent of the day. He missed the sunshine and feeling the warm breeze on his cheeks. It would be nice to get outside again and get back on the pitch. He didn't mind playing in the winter, but it was brutal and often uncomfortable, so he usually hung his broom for the winter. It was a small part of why he didn't play for the house team; he was a fair weather flyer. He had a hard time in the cold and snow and therefore wouldn't be much use in a quidditch match, shivering uncontrollably, hands frozen to the broom.

This particular chapter in his transfiguration text was not all that interesting, but he had to have it done by the end of the week and figured he should get it out of the way. He was about to turn the page, when a shadow fell across his face, moving the book a few inches to the side, he smiled up at whomever it was staring down at him; welcoming any kind of interruption. "Well, hello there."

Bass sounding music engulfed the silence in the empty sixth-year boys’ dormitory as William plucked the strings of his guitar, searching for its tune. Of late, his guitar seemed to not want to cooperate. The strings were continually breaking unexpectedly; he had difficulty in polishing its wood exterior as the irksome fingerprints refused to remove themselves; and overall, it just seemed to William as if his guitar had been jinxed to act of its own accordance. William pursed his lips as the thought of his roommates having thought it would be a good joke to jinx his most treasured instrument (besides his violin, of course). William had always been considered the odd one of his year-mates due to his immense love for music, peace, and poetry, but he could not help the person he turned out to be; he could not help his fondness for things soothing or cultured.

Irritable now that he would have to interrogate which of his housemates had come up with the enlightening idea of jinxing his guitar, and knowing how vexing and difficult the interrogation will be, William gently enclose his guitar in its case and shut the case with a ‘click!’. He then stood up to his full height (which was quite tall, mind you) and took a sigh as he habitually bit on his thumbnail, imagining the different interrogating scenes in his head. He was aware that each boy will continue to deny their involvement in the scheming of jinxing his guitar, but it would not hurt him to attempt to seek out the culprit. Unbeknownst to his housemates, William can be quite a revengeful young man, and revenge seemed to be in order for the culprit whom ruined his beloved guitar.

Chuckling darkly, William led himself out of his dormitory door, and descended the steps to the Hufflepuff Common Room. As he did so, however, he could not help but think of what his siblings were doing to occupy their time now that classes discontinued for the evening. Rosalind, no doubt, would most probably be consuming her time with homework to keep on top of her studies before her patrol duty. Ellory… William, for once, was unsure about Ellory, but whatever she has decided would occupy her time would be worthwhile. He smiled fondly at the image of Ellory sneaking out of the castle going on some adventurous journey into the night, but then he shook his head to rid the image as a question popped into his head: Wasn’t he, as a brother and protector of a beloved younger sister, supposed to dispel such thoughts as the aforementioned younger sister could endanger herself whilst gallivanting about the castle taking an adventurous journeys?

As the Common Room came into view, William rubbed his arms and blew on his hands. Merlin!, he thought as he shivered a bit, Why must it be so bloody cold? Upon seeing the blaze of the roaring fire beckoning to him to come and stand in front of its warmth, William did so willingly without thinking that someone would be using the light from the fire for reading. Startled by the acknowledgement of the young man’s voice behind him, William whipped around, eyes wildly assessing his acknowledger. Upon realizing the young man as Mr. Harvey Beauregard, a fair flyer on the Quidditch Pitch though has yet to join the Hufflepuff team; William calmed some, and said, “Ah, Beauregard! Have I known you were using the light from the fire, I would have gone elsewhere. How are you faring?” The young man seemed overly eager to be disrupted in his reading of… Transfiguration (William had glanced down at his reading material out of curiousity) that William had to inquire, “Anything in Transfiguration that I may assist you with, young chap? It is one of my excelled studies, so I am sure that whichever lesson you are doing can’t be too difficult for my comprehension.”

Harvey righted himself as William addressed him, happily closing his book for the distraction of conversation. "No, no, just bored with it. We're working on the duro enchantment, turning things to stone." He chuckled. Though gone awry, which it would certainly do in class, would be highly amusing. "Transfiguration is one of my better classes as well." He wasn't half bad at it, had been tutoring Hannah in it for a while, as well as Charms. "I'm ahead actually. Kind of you to offer though." Not many people would offer to help somebody reading upside down in the common room.

Enjoying the warmth coming off of the fire, he marked his place in his book and set it on the table beside the chair. He hadn't seen much of William lately, but quidditch was busy after all. Ever since the girls had been kicked off, unfairly in his opinion, he'd thought about trying out, but he also figured they would be allowed back sometime and he would be out again. Perhaps he should go for an alternate next year? Maybe, it was a possibility. He'd need to really work on some of his flying skills. Of course he needed to figure out who was graduating and which spots would open up. He was no seeker and a miserable beater, so it was either chaser or keeper. He'd prefer keeper, but he wasn't sure he'd be any good at it. Maybe he'd have to ask Andren to practice with him. His roommate had been bugging him since year one to join the team.

"Been fine thanks, how about you?" Harvey could make small talk for hours if need be and he was desperate for any excuse to get out of this reading. He already knew the spell and was fairly good at it, he'd practice it a bit more, but reading about it and other spells like it was overkill. "How's the team looking this spring?" He questioned, knowing qudditch was a perfectly safe topic to discuss. His sister, Della, had given him a rather interesting book for Christmas, one he'd read almost three times through already, the third time was recent so it was fresh in his head, though he could talk quidditch for days and never get bored.

Andren had been sprawled behind the closed curtains of his bed for hours, not sleeping but not moving either. Their last quidditch game of the season was in a little over a month and if they lost, their season would officially be a joke. He wouldn't be able to hear the word 'Quidditch' without wincing if they lost all of their games this season. It would be an embarrassment. He wouldn't be able to show his face in public. Okay, so maybe things wouldn't be that extreme, but it might hurt his chances of getting picked up by a professional team in a few years.

At least he wasn't responsible for goal scoring. Hitting bludgers at people had very little to do with the snitch, after all.

After untangling that little mental thread and inspecting all of the spots on his ceiling, Andren slipped out of bed, pulled his curtains open, and plodded downstairs. His hair was sticking up in odd places but it always tended to do that near games.

Andren spotted Harvey and William Pendergast, one of his teammates, on a couch and wandered over. He nodded to both of them and sat down so he was leaning against the side of the couch, not quite willing to insert himself into the conversation yet or go get his books to do homework. Crappy quidditch seasons were exhausting.

William nodded his consent to Harvey’s confession that Transfiguration was tedious of late. It was odd (for Will, at least) since as a young first year, he had been fairly interested- more like fascinated with the subject of Transfiguration. He had always been amazed at how an object could be wielded into something else when one possessed the skill to do so, and Will certainly did possess the skill as he earned an ‘Outstanding’ in the academic class for his O.W.L’s. However, William had not the intention to appease or impress the Transfiguration professor as he just simply enjoyed the strategic and advanced labor involved when learning a new charm or spell. So why he had a disinterest in Transfiguration this year, his sixth year of Hogwarts, was a strange and abnormal mystery to him that he felt as if he must absolutely solve.

As the fire continued to blaze and flicker, a comfortable and serene silence engulfed both himself and Harvey. William had never been a social person, but he was rather fond of socialization when given the chance; but as William did not mind the silence he was rather reluctant to speak and break the quietness of the Common Room, the only sounds the crackling of the fire and the low murmurs of other students filtered around the room. “I’ve been faring particularly well. Quidditch practices are a trifle exhausting, but we could have a chance to win the Quidditch Cup for Hufflepuff. It would certainly be an achievement and to display to others that the Hufflepuff team does not possess any weaknesses.”

William’s confession of Quidditch practices being exhausting was proven correct when his fellow teammate, Andren Lovegood, entered the Common Room appearing disheveled and worn out. Captain Dudley had been laboring them particularly hard of late, but despite the team’s lack of exertion due to said Quidditch practices, they all yearned to win this year as Hufflepuff hardly had any chance of winning when the women were on the teams. He had to admit, the women were fairly excellent players. Their lightness and grace made it quite easy for them to perform difficult broomstick moves such as twirling, and it truly did surprise him how much strength a woman can possess. However, whilst he thought the ban on women joining the teams quite unfair as they must have enjoyed the sport as well, William was quite glad to have his team finally have their moment of glory on the field.

“The team is alright, I suppose,” William shrugged after Harvey inquired after the Quidditch team’s progress. “However,” he continued, gesturing to Andren, “the hard labor is quite evident.”

The silence that overcame them was quite comfortable. Harvey had never felt the need to fill the silence in a conversation. He blamed Elsie for her innate ability to hold a conversation without actually saying anything. She was a quiet person and therefore didn't have to say much to get her point across, so a natural quietness engulfed her and anybody was with her. Naturally, Harvey and Elsie got along very well and often spend their time together at home, so Harvey was very used to not having to talk and be left alone to your thoughts until something to say popped up.

Harvey had been well aware of his roommate wallowing upstairs behind the curtains of his four-posted bed. It was part of the reason Harvey had chosen to do his reading in the common room, rather than their dorm. Not that Andren was continually talking or even moving for that matter, in fact, Harvey wasn't sure he was awake at one point, but he felt like he was intruding on some inner turmoil of Andren's and he didn't want to make it awkward. Harvey understood where his roommate was coming from, so he left him to think about the quidditch season in peace. It wasn't as if Harvey could help, he didn't play for the house team, despite numerous attempts by many of his housemates to coerce him into trying out. He knew he wasn't good enough, sure he was a fair flyer, but his quaffle handling skills weren't very good.

As he watched his roommate join them after that thought, Harvey wondered if quidditch would stay the topic of discussion. "Good to hear William." He turned back to the older student, noticing his roommate was still kind of lost in his own little world. Harvey had never really seen the team practice, but their season hadn't exactly been a spectacular one. Perhaps the spring would turn things around. "I'm sure things will pull together." He offered hopefully. Harvey was no fair-weather fan, he supported the Puffs through and through and it was always tough to watch them struggle through a season.

Andren made a 'yeah, you've got me' gesture at the hard labor comment, grinning sheepishly. For him the exhaustion was more due to his own obsessing rather than the practices, but they certainly weren't helping. Andren was neurotic over quidditch even at the best of time; it was a terrible cycle leading up to matches when they were doing well, never mind now. He could only imagine that he looked a bit nuts now. Andren ran a hand through his hair in an attempt to see what gravity was doing to it and played with a lock that was sticking up rather awkwardly. Andren was perfectly fine with being the poster child for quidditch-caused exhaustion, and he doubted that anyone cared so long as he managed to be lively during practices.

"We're working on it," Andren said with a small smile. The last thing they needed was to perpetuate the ' 'puffs are losers ' stereotype by losing all of the games in a season, and the Hufflepuff quidditch team wasn't just lying down and letting everyone just beat them. (Andren, personally, was determined to slam as many Slytherins with bludgers as was humanly possible.) As he had told Alice in one of their recent letters, he would be aiming for anyone on a broomstick wearing the color green.

After a moment he added, "The Slytherins certainly lost some girls in the ban, so hopefully things will work out in our favor." Andren was notoriously anti-quidditch-ban, to the point where he had sent a letter to the Daily Prophet, but he wasn't going to ignore an advantage for ethical reasons. Particularly not when the Slytherin team had lost both of their beaters in the ban. (Now if that wasn't good for him, he didn't know what was.) And that was when he wasn't mentioning their loss of a seeker. He didn't agree with taking perfectly talented women off of the teams, but at this point in the season he would allow himself to be a tiny bit glad that it had happened. He could feel guilty about that after their final game of the season.

William flashed a sympathetic smile towards Andren as he situated himself upon the plush couch next to Harvey. William, for the last few years since he had joined his house’s quidditch team, had always known that hard labor during team practices were a common occurrence, but this year was somehow more decidedly exhausting. William’s conclusion was the fact that now that the women were banned from playing, they actually had a chance at winning the cup for themselves that year. In the school term of 1881-1882, Hufflepuff has yet to win a game, and it was beginning to agitate William since it was displaying his team as weaklings. Because of the aforementioned fact, William has yet to complain to Eric Dudley, the Hufflepuff team captain, that his limbs were decidedly sore and he could never keep his eyes open long enough to finish or begin the schoolwork assigned to him by his instructors. Of course, William would never complain in the first place, but it was true that he was suffering as much as his teammate next to him.

William was hardly very interested in Quidditch, but he was not disinterested, as well. His sole purpose of joining his house’s quidditch team was to make his elder brother proud, and most possibly his parents proud, as well. William had no indication of whether his parents approved of his brother’s current occupation, but he was sure that should they ever discover that William’s ideal career was to compose music for the de Montfault Theatre, he was sure that they would not approve. The first son in a prestigious family living out his dreams was fine as long as he promised to upgrade in the future, but the second son possessing a dream that would not provide a suitable income either? Well, it would just not do. Philip and Olivia Pendergast would most assuredly claim their second son a career within the Ministry without his consult of what he would be interested in, and his father had the power and authority within the ministry to do so as such.

William nodded sagely at Harvey’s attempt to lighten the atmosphere. At least the Hufflepuff was attempting to keep the subject within everyone’s favor as William was sure that each of them had a preference should he mention the topic of music, and a squabble may ensue. “I sure hope so, as well, Harvey. As Lovegood insinuated, Slytherin has lost women on their team that were fairly good flyers. We may still have a chance yet. Of course, I am not belittling their male flyers, but the women had an advantage on their side. They were light, and therefore, were quite speedy on a broomstick. Not to mention that they seemed quite confident of themselves, and I have always been taught by my own sisters and mother to never underestimate the abilities of a woman.”

Harvey had been decidedly against the ban on women playing quidditch. He found it entirely unfair, especially to have let them play, then to take it away from them. There were several that had a lot more talent that he did and therefore should have gotten to play. Harvey hadn't joined the team because he knew there were better players out there for the team. He didn't want to hold them back; he was a much better fan. Many guys his age would have been embarrassed to admit that there were girls who played quidditch better, but Harvey was very comfortable with himself. Whether or not he played, he wanted the team to do well.

"Slytherin hasn't been the same since." He commented. The ban had set most of the teams back. Ravenclaw seemed to be the only ones without a problem, because they didn't have any girls to lose. The rest of the teams had to hold secondary try outs to replace the team members. It was ridiculous really. Why had they bothered to go through all of the stress in the first place?

Harvey and Andren had discussed the issue at length as they were both of the same opinion on the ban. It often got very heated because they both felt so strongly about it, but they still hadn't quite figured out how to help lift it. "Agreed." Harvey said as William made some good points about the female players. They were light and quick and they had those dainty little hands that could catch anything. He was often amazed by them. "Growing up in a house that is half women, I can see what you mean." While the gender ratio was completely even in his house, without his father there all of the time, the boys were often outnumbered. It felt as though there we always more women in his house, maybe because he had two older sisters and only one younger. Who knew, but Harvey did know when to avoid them and when to let them do their thing. Otherwise you just got bowled over in the process.

"You guys got a game plan?" He was curious to know how Hufflepuff planned to attack their upcoming game. It was likely to be an epic battle of sorts. The poor Puffs were not having the greatest of seasons thus far, but they weren't likely to go down without a fight.

Andren grinned at the mention of the ladies. "I feel like the lightness allowed some of them to be particularly vicious," he said. "Or at least it did for Merrythought Galatea." Andren himself had grown up surrounded by women who did what they wanted, at least as far as his sisters went. Alice flouted the rules of etiquette, even going so far as to own a bar, and Olive certainly acted how she felt like acting. His fake cousin, Lysandra, had been on the quidditch team, his friend - and William's sister - Ellory went on adventures whenever she wanted, and Ceri was a bit of a suffragette. "I'm fairly certain my sister Alice can make me and my brother do whatever she wants," he commented.

Andren shrugged. He had explained his strategy to Alice as 'aim for anything in green', but he supposed that wasn't bright enough for an actual explanation. "Mine is just the usual - aim for the seeker or whoever has the quaffle, keep them from smashing our players," he said. "I have no idea what Dudley has the other players doing. William?"

Andren tended to get a bit too absorbed in bludgering things to concentrate on strategies for the other players. Besides, it wasn't like what the chasers or seeker were doing affected his basic goals unless they were aiming for bludgers on purpose.

He supposed that he liked being a beater because the strategy wasn't particularly complicated. (Try and help out the keeper, try and stop their seeker, aim bludgers at them to get out anger, don't hit your own players.

William chuckled amusedly at Andren’s comment of how women’s agility allowed them to be particularly vicious, and crossed his right leg onto his right. While Andren’s comment certainly held some truth, there was a part of him that disagreed with the young man’s opinion. Yes, the women whom previously held a position on their House’s Quidditch team did, indeed, possess an independency and fierceness that those women off the pitch lack, but it appeared to William as if this ought to be more directed towards Andren’s example of Merrythought Galatea than any of the other women. “Quidditch was a source for women to release their stress due to the exercise and strategy involved in the game. Though most men would disagree with me and retort that women beheld no stress, I would defend my opinion and announce that society seemed to put more stress upon a woman’s shoulders than a man’s. You know, they have to be cautious of how they act or speak, or else hers or her family’s reputation is at stake. Imagine it, concealing who you are and how you view various topics from society because of the ridiculous rules of etiquette! I feel for my sisters, I truly do.”

William shrugged nonchalantly when Andren inquired of what plan their captain and other team members were planning to hold out. He honestly had not a clue as to a game plan, but he figured that the Hufflepuff team’s chances of winning was particularly slim due to Quidditch practice being mostly…well, practice; but William rather felt that a team meeting was in order as to how they could win the House Cup. “I haven’t the faintest idea, Lovegood,” he replied in a casual tone, lacking emotion, “but I am sure that Dudley will call for a meeting to scheme our moves sooner or later. I feel he is too intelligent not to have thought of something to assist us in winning by now.”

“Well, Beauregard,” he addressed the young man in the plush chair near the fire, “you have your answers. Unless our captain calls for a meeting to scheme, besides knowing our places in Quidditch and following the instructions our positions expect of us, we are wholly unprepared for the upcoming Quidditch match.”

Harvey was starting to suspect that perhaps he had started on a sensitive subject. Usually quidditch was an easy and open topic to discuss, especially with his roommate, but their lack of winning this year had made it less desirable to talk about as of late. Listening as the two players described their views on the upcoming matches, he was more and more sure that they should probably quit sports talk.

He nodded as both Andren and William spoke about strategies, trying to placate the both of them. "I'm sure Dudley will get things in gear." He said dismissively, trying not to make anybody anybody more upset by the discussion. In fact, he was rather certain that he should probably return to his homework so he could get a big chunk of it done before dinner. Transfiguration was always and up and down subject for him, sometimes he loved it, sometimes he hated it.

"I think you guys will give in an honest go." He said faithfully. All he could really do was watch from the stands and hope for the best. If they played hard and worked at it, they might be able to pull it off. Harvey had always had unwavering love for his team, so he was ever the optimist about their seasons, good or bad. "Well gents, I wish you the best of luck with that. I think I'm going to get a bit more of this Transfiguration text read before dinner." Harvey held up the forgotten book to show what he meant and stood from the plush common room chair; he'd get more done up in his room. "When the weather warms up and the cup is over, we should have a pick up game." He offered, wishing the weather was warmer now. He w